The Calm Before the Storm
by Lady Lemons
Summary: Previously titled, 'A Whole New Foe' and has undergone massive revisions. So here is the tweaked version: updated and continued. *Sparky* Deals with friends who aren't what they seem, and nasty revenge from everyone's fave villian. Feedback would be great
1. Prologue

The Calm Before the Storm

The Calm Before the Storm

_Disclaimer—Don't own, but man I wish I did!! That would be SO cool._

Author's Note: Yes, firstly I am terribly sorry for the extremely long wait until I updated—it's completely inexcusable. Secondly, the entire fic has been completely revised and tweaked, so there are many changes throughout, especially in writing structure. Yep, so hopefully this new and improved version is more to everyone's liking. Thirdly, this used to be called "A Whole New Foe" yeah, I ditched the Aladdin reference, didn't really like it. Anyhoo, thanks--Lemons

Prologue:

Moonlight streamed through small skylights, a subtle indication of night, when the gate started dialing, signaling the incoming wormhole. In the center of a large, sunken room, stood the Gate—propped up and connected to the floor by a ramp. Circling the outer edges of the room ran a balcony, serving as an extension of the level above. Several hallways lead further into the complex, suggesting the central location of the Gateroom. A flight of stairs, situated next to the DHD, cascaded down from one side to allow travelers access to the remainder of the complex. Yet, the Gate itself, seemed to clash with the surroundings—the simplicity and rigidity of the architecture, with its bare walls and harsh angles, clashed sharply with the elegance and sophistication of the gate.

At the top of the stairs, a man dressed in all black, arms folded across his chest, leaned causally against the DHD. A top his blonde head rested a circlet of gold, sharply contrasting his sparse appearance. The gate finished dialing, and in a matter of a seconds several men exited—two bearing a stretcher that held to body of a man.

The group looked a little worse for wear, as if they had come off the loosing side of a fight, for indeed they had. Their uniforms betrayed their planet of origin; however they bared little resemblance to the standard 'Ladon abiding Genii' dress, but more of the rebel a la 'Kolya Genii' uniforms.

They carefully approached the foot of the stairs and looked up for instruction. The man in black flicked his gaze to the left as six figures silently approached. "They'll take it from here boys," he said. The stretcher exchanged hands and the man followed the monks down one of the passage ways, while the remaining Genii soldiers filed out to head to the infirmary and later the mess—signally their previous knowledge of the place.

Sighing quietly, the man mulled over the latest development as he walked behind the stretcher. _Why did he not listen to me? He completely owes me for this. I told him that hasty revenge would end badly. I told him not to rush out at the first news. I told him that a well set trap never fails, that control was everything. Well, at least I didn't compile all of the Intel for nothing; I still have plenty of dirt on the Atlanteans, so perhaps he will listen to my ideas this time._

By now they reached their destination—a small room containing a rather large piece of ancient technology in the center. His scientists discovered its purpose and that sadly, the ancestors abandoned the prototype due to the threat of the Wraith. However, the man took pride in his ability to collect such treasures—a testament to his skill and ingenuity. As he watched the men position his friend inside, he thought back to the mission where he gained this device. They found it in some old ruins that proceeded to light up like crazy at his presence—however he'd long grown accustom to such responses. They didn't have a clue as to the reason for the place, but in his line of work everything was useful to someone. So he ordered his men to bring back everything from the lab, including this device. Later, one of the scientists discovered its purpose and with that knowledge he decided to keep this one for himself, since he never knew what would come in handy later on—and it did not do well to trade away all of the finer things. With all of the preparations completed, the minions backed away murmuring that all was ready.

"Leave us," replied the man with the circlet of gold as he approached the control device. Instantly responding to his touch, he felt a small chill go through him as he placed his hand on the controls. A gift from birth, once hated and the cause of pain, now provided a source of comfort and power. Now he didn't even think much to activate anything that much anymore, which give him an advantage in his line of work. After allowing the device to work for several minutes, he shut it down to hear stirring from the inside of the machine, and a few moments later a man walked out.

"Acustus, how nice of you to join the land of the living again," The man quipped looking into the face of his old friend.

--TBC--


	2. Chapter 1: Good News and Bad News

Chapter One: Good News, Bad News

Chapter One: Good News, Bad News

_Disclaimer—Don't own, but man I wish I did!! That would be SO cool._

The piercing sound of the gate dialing brought Elizabeth Weir back to reality. She looked at her watch in puzzlement, as the return for an off world team was not for several hours. Major Lorne's team recently checked in, as their mission to MR3-398 proved to be informative, but uneventful. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that it was high time SGA-1 returned. She was starting to get slightly apprehensive about them, since they seemed to get into trouble more often then she'd like, but in order to keep sane (and stave off worry) she kept busy by catching up on the plethora of reports that constantly flooded her inbox. After all, this mission sounded low-risk, since they were investigating the validity of the word they received of the existence of some kind of super hero. This hardly seemed like a mission that could cause catastrophe, but then again this team happened to have the most unique luck when it came to 'simple missions' and 'the making of friends.'

She rose and made her way to the control room as Chuck called out "Receiving Colonel Sheppard's IDC." She nodded to him, giving silent permission to lower the shield. This was a good sign—in that they were not coming in under fire or requesting a medical team.

She made her way to the balcony to watch them arrive. One, two, three……….. four……….. and five: all of them and they appeared to be in one piece as they walked through the gate—okay, they sort of waltzed through the gate. She peered down, watching McKay smiling like a fool as he babbled on about something to Beckett, who also seemed pleased and slightly relieved. Teyla and Ronon radiated a sense of calm and quiet, but seemed relieved about something as well. However, John was the one acting a little odd. Usually, he sauntered in—if he not being carried, or returning fire at hostile natives, or hobbling in and collapsing on the gate room floor due to taking previous fire from said hostile natives—but looked slightly reserved for some reason. And this fact sent off big red flags, making her uneasy.

She met them at the top of the stairs. "So, how'd it go? Did this super hero fit his reputation?" she asked smiling.

"Oh he was cracked all right, down right pesky with all his retarded stories and his _perusing_." Rodney retorted.

"Bloody annoying if 'ya ask me," chimed in Carson.

"Alright, you all look to be in one piece and unharmed so why are the rest of you so quiet?" Asked Elizabeth.

"Oo, oo, oo well ah you have to hear this," started Rodney.

"Actually Elizabeth we have good news and uh bad news," The first John spoke since exiting the gate as he flashed her a small, but unconvincing grin.

"Yes, we met some friends on this planet," added Teyla.

"Yeah, and some people I would not call friends in every sense of the word," added Rodney.

"Ok, I can see you are not telling me everything. Should we go straight into debriefing or do you guys need a minute or something?" asked Elizabeth.

"No, you need to hear this, the sooner the better but most of it can wait for a full debriefing. Want to Spark notes version now?" asked John.

"Our good friend Lucius Luvin found a personal shield, played hero by 'beating' some ex-Genii who decided to call their dear boss to come on a vendetta against me, guess he doesn't like me or something, almost got blown up, everyone else was captured. Got stuck having a Lucius shadow, helping Lucius execute a plan to get rid of said evil dude, borrowing his shield, depleting it after Kolya was so nice as to order all his men to shoot me when I entered the town square, and resulting in a shoot out between the two of us."

"Oh," replied Elizabeth frowning.

"But you have to hear the best part, other than us being rid of that scum bag Kolya," Rodney interjected, "Lucius wanted his shield back once we were getting ready to leave and Sheppard gave it to him without telling him that it was you know depleted, and he put it on and was all like 'kick me' to the towns people and they did and….."

Elizabeth silenced him with a look.

"Oh uh shutting up now."

"Ok, well why don't you all get changed, eat, sleep, and we can debrief in eight hours." With that everyone started to leave. Rodney muttered something about finding some blue jello and catching up on work, and Teyla nodded respectfully to Dr. Weir before heading off to her quarters. Ronon padded silently away taking a similar route to the one Teyla took.

"John, can I have a word?" Elizabeth asked quietly as he was about to leave.

He hung back to talk to her, yet gave her an inquiring look. "Why don't we go somewhere private?" She said leading him out of the control room to their balcony.

It was night and the stars shone brightly above the city, easily seen by anyone who was looking outside as there was not a cloud in the sky. This place seemed to be where they both came to clear their thoughts, and many times discuss important issues and confide in each other.

John walked to the railing and leaned against it gazing out at the sea. Elizabeth waited for a few minutes for him to begin, when he didn't she started.

"So, he's really gone?"

"Yep," he replied still looking out at the water.

"Are you alright with this? Do you need to talk to Kate about finding closure or something, because you seem to be a little upset by this?"

"No, I don't need to talk to Kate. I'll uh be fine. Why would I need closure when the man who has tried to kill you….. and me…… and us on several occasions is dead?"

She looked at him and could tell there was more; she just needed to let him collect his thought to continue. Some time later he began, though he was still not looking at her.

"I think maybe, well I know I am glad that he is gone as he did too many unspeakable things. It's just; I think he got away too easily. The way he went was just too good for him."

By now he was looking at her. He still had nightmares about the storm and when she had almost died, twice. _Kolya_, ugg the name left a bitter taste in his mouth. That SOB had just gotten away too easily.

It was Elizabeth's turn to look out at the water. Quietly she said, "At least now we have one less threat to deal with. No more worrying about what he is plotting." She sighed and said in a small voice, "I know that now there is one less person I have to worry about abducting you off world."

At this the both looked up, catching each others eyes for a moment before quickly averting them. Elizabeth's face was rather red, and seemed to find the railing rather interesting, while John quickly looked up towards the stars. The thought of losing the other stirred up too many buried emotions that neither had allowed to escape before.

John broke the silence first, "So why couldn't he have been one of those crazy wraith worshipers and offered himself up so he never caused us any grief?"

"We just aren't that lucky now are we?" Elizabeth replied bitterly.

"Yeah it just wouldn't be our style, now would it?" John flashed her his cocky grin earning a small smile out of Elizabeth. The fact that this time, his smile reached his eyes, comforted her and she realized he would be fine.

The semi-flirting might have continued if not for the interruption of a certain Scottish doctor over their radios. "Colonel Sheppard, please report to the infirmary."

John reached up to tap his radio and replied, "Yeah Carson, I know. I'll be right there."

He looked over at Elizabeth, trying to stall for time, not wanting to break up the moment, "Dang I have to go to my lovely post mission check-up."

"Yeah you don't want Carson to threaten you with sharp pointy needles do you?" she said smiling at him.

"Mmm, wouldn't miss it for the world."

John reluctantly turned to leave and was almost at the door when he turned back, "Elizabeth……………uh thanks for caring."

"You welcome Colonel, but you might want to leave soon, as Carson gets pretty angry when he's kept waiting." She added with a smile, all the while thinking how this was another missed opportunity to tell him how she felt. Yes, she would simply lock her emotions away again, she had to.

He noted the return to his rank, and it took a split second for him to make up his mind on what to do about it. Today had affected him deeply, and he realized that it was time to stop pretending.

Throwing all caution to the wind, he took all of two seconds to cross the balcony back over to her, and two more seconds of each staring into the other's eyes full of mirrored emotions. Then he leaned in……..and kissed her.

The kiss was soft and tender, while it did not last long, as John pulled back rather sheepishly saying, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"Nope, probably not," replied Elizabeth taking a step closer, "But right now, this feels right," and leaned in even more. This time, it was full of passion—due to stored up feelings from the past three years coming to fruition.

Elizabeth broke them apart first asking, "What about Carson hunting you down with sharp pointy needles?"

"Let him try, I think he can wait a little longer," replied John softly, pulling her back in. They had both played this game and neither could hold out any longer. Unspoken consent allowed them to continue—for now they had good reason to celebrate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rodney was upset, so now _he _was the messenger boy. Why couldn't some military heads set a good example and show up on time for the post mission exam? No, he was sent to go find said Colonel and chew him out for not visiting Carson.

He looked at the LSD he'd brought, because _some_ people liked to hide from the witch doctor, and he didn't feel like walking around the whole freaking city randomly looking for the Colonel—plus, this was just plain easier. While searching for the AWOL pilot, Rodney rued the fact that he still failed to get a hold of his blue jello. Nope, the colonel's room was empty—go figure—but two dots appeared on one of the balconies located on the main tower. Intuition told him one was Sheppard, but the only question remaining dealt with the identity of the other?

While Rodney continued to mutter all the way to the balcony about 'stupid flyboys,' the astonishing sight upon his entry shut him up for good. Both the military head and expedition leader stood in the moonlight, kissing passionately! For a while now, Rodney had had his suspicions, but this was real proof—hard evidence of the relationship between the two.

Both stopped abruptly as they realized the presence of Rodney standing awkwardly in the doorway, mouth agape. Elizabeth turned away and blushed, while John cleared his throat and said to Rodney, "Uh can I help you with something?"

However, Rodney continued to stare, rooted there on the spot.

"Hello, Earth to Rodney!" John waved at him in an attempt to bring him back to reality, because a silent Rodney did not bode well for anyone.

Rodney closed his mouth, and pointed to him—then her—and finally said in a rush, "HA! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Radek soo owes me money now! I always thought you two needed to get together. Wait until I cash in on the betting pool!" The astrophysicist paused for a split second to breathe in before continuing, "Oh and Carson is looking for you. You might want to go visit him, or go into hiding for good 'cause he was pretty ticked when I left the infirmary—mentioned something about stupid colonels almost getting blown up and not seeing fit to get examined."

John narrowed his eyes as he made his way to the door, however before leaving said, "You might think carefully about mentioning this to anyone." Reaching down into a pocked, John withdrew a round-shaped object, and tossed it to McKay. As Rodney caught it, Sheppard gave him a mock salute, leaving Elizabeth the deal with the fall-out. Rodney looked down at the item he held, promptly dropped it, and rushed out of the room in a mixed state of shock and anger.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth walked over and reached down to picked up the discarded item. It was a lemon, not a plastic one, but a real one. _Oh,_ she thought ruefully, _this is going to be interesting_—because Rodney would be thoroughly upset with Sheppard now, and would do everything in his power to seek revenge. Little chance remained of her getting to bed now, so she headed back to her office with thoughts of a certain spiky haired colonel on her mind.

--TBC--


	3. Chapter 2: Anger Management

Chapter 2: Anger Management Classes Pegasus Style

Chapter 2: Anger Management Classes Pegasus Style

_Disclaimer—Don't own, but man I wish I did!! That would be SO cool._

Bowels of subterranean complex:

In a half lit training room, a lone figure slowing moved through a series of complex stick fighting moves because Kolya had to be careful due to the amount of pain he was still in. Even though the ancient device brought him back to life, it failed to completely heal all of injuries. After being shot twice in the same shoulder, he was bound to have difficulties using it—the last injury of course, still required healing from the most recent and painful encounter with the ever annoying and sarcastic Atlantean. _Yes, _he thought of being shot twice….._that'll leave a mark._ At this realization, anger cursed through him towards to the one man who had stood against him and lived. Oh, Sheppard had an annoying habit of getting under Kolya's skin and ruining his carefully laid plans, so it really had to stop and soon.

Kolya continued to twirl his sticks with renewed vigor, when he the soft footsteps of someone approaching interrupted him. He completed a complex maneuver and brought the sticks spinning around, with one landing just short of striking to intruder in the throat and the other raised behind his head.

The blonde man did not bat an eye and effortlessly pushed the stick aside. "So…..how are we feeling today?" He asked with a small smile on his lips.

Kolya dropped his arms and walked over to a bench by the wall, where his bag sat containing water. He sat down and took a sip from it before grunting, "What's it to you?"

The man continued to smile and replied innocently enough, "Oh, nothing. Just came to check up on my dear friend. I figured the, what was it? Oh yeah, second gunshot wound to that shoulder, might be bothering you some what still. After all you have only been recovering for a couple of weeks."

"First of all you can wipe that smug look off your face anytime now," Kolya spat rather angrily. "Secondly," he continued a little calmer, "I am fine. So thank you for your nice but unnecessary concern."

"I am only saying that you should take it easy, as you have plenty of time to recover. Being hasty is what got you into trouble to last time was it not?" the blonde man replied. "So calm down, gather your strength, and then we will enact your revenge."

Kolya gave him a knowing look and the blond man continued smiling, "Yeah basically I am saying 'I told you so'."

Kolya just shot him a look of pure venom, because this man was the only person whom Kolya would have ever allowed to say such words and live to see the end of the day. His friend's nature called for a certain amount of sarcasm and bluntness. While he liked the uncomplicated conversations, the reality beneath the simplicity lay the man's brilliance. The planning and forethought that he put into creating a scheme was extraordinary, showing he was indeed a master strategist.

Their friendship started between their peoples with a simple food trade agreement. His friend, the lord and leader of a successful but reserved farming community, specialized in fruit that the Genii needed during a time of famine. The Genii attempted to maintain their front of simple farmers and his friend theirs of peaceful planters, but Kolya shifted the balance. The profitable trading relationship threatened to dissolve as each discovered the darker secret of the other spreading distrust and anger. Kolya managed to mollify both parties assuring that each could use their special gifts to help both. The blonde man led not only a convent of peaceful monks, but spearheaded a covert organization that specialized in the gathering of Intel and making rather unsavory deals to gain a profit. A crime lord in essence, but an effective on at that.

Kolya brokered a new agreement between them, and that marked the start of a lasting friendship. The blonde man had one major weakness in his organization that Kolya ably provided a solution for. He lacked an efficient of a system of off world planet outposts and spies like the Genii did, and the Genii in turn did not operate nearly as ruthless and dirty of an organization as the lord did. Thus, by working together they strengthened the systems of both planets and in turned prospered a great deal. However the blonde man held Kolya in the highest esteem thus, most of the negotiations went through him.

Flash forward several years to Cowen's decline and Ladon's rise to power, Kolya sought sanctuary with his friend since Cowen tried to dispose of him—unsuccessfully of course. Ladon took control and the once friendly and prosperous trading between the two peoples hit a small snag. Ladon, reluctant to contact them because he knew how much they had favored Kolya, in turn strengthened his alliance with the Atlanteans.

Now, many scorned Genii sought refuge in this place. Several of them joined the lord's ranks and were utilized as spies off world. Kolya stayed here many times, and occupying a room in the complex—until he rushed off world when some of his men brought word of sighting Sheppard on that stupid planet with the 'hero'.

Yes, his friend cautioned against his hasty leaving and lack of concrete information, but Kolya jumped on the chance to kill Sheppard. Well, at least his men had been smart enough to bring his body back here because the lord had to power to undo what was thought to be final.

For now the blonde man sat at the helm of a vast an immensely successful organization that translated to probably one of the most powerful intelligence and 'under the radar' trading groups in the galaxy. He had the power to achieve much, yes, Kolya needed to stay in the man's good graces. How else would he be able to get his revenge on Sheppard and the Atlanteans?

"So my dear friend, what do you have in mind?" He asked.

His friend flashed him an evil grin, "We will watch, wait, and plan. When the opportune moment arrives we will strike without mercy and you will get your revenge. But, the situation must be completely in our control and there must be no margin for error."

_No margin for error, yes this was his way_, Kolya thought, his friend like to be right all of the time. Because of this all of the planets and people that traded with him, he knew that there was no way around him. He got whatever he wanted and always came out on top—he just took so long planning everything out!

With a small sigh Kolya replied, "So we will wait while your goons gather information. But I am not going to wait for him to die of old age, so you had better not take too long or I will have to take it into my own hands. I don't care if I your machine only brings people back to life once, I cannot wait forever, and I cannot just let the injustices go unpunished."

This made the man laugh, "Yeah we know how well that works. How many times has this John Sheppard beat you? Once? Twice? Several? many? Well personally, I have yet to meet him and see what his capabilities are. I know this though, sooner or later he will screw up and we'll nail him. Then you can enact the justice you want. With that thought I leave you to your training." With that the blonde man stood up, mocked saluted and sauntered away leaving behind a very frustrated and upset Kolya simmering with thoughts of revenge.

--TBC--


	4. Chapter 3: Passage of Time

Chapter 3: Passage of Time

Chapter 3: Passage of Time

_Disclaimer—Don't own, but man I wish I did!! That would be SO cool._

Atlantis:

Sunlight streamed down onto the 'not so lost' city of Atlantis. The sky, an extraordinary shade of blue, marked the beautiful day in this ocean paradise. Unfortunately the peace in this paradise would soon come to an abrupt halt.

Elizabeth Weir received a large and comfy pillow from one of her Athosian friends when they last visited the over Christmas, and she decided to place it on the balcony near her office in hopes of spending more time outside. However, she spent a large portion of her waking hours in her office, getting coffee, being hauled off to the science labs to see some new ancient device that was discovered, or god forbid holding vigil in the infirmary for a member of one of the off world teams. She thought to herself that she should probably find a way to set up a waiting room of some kind with more comfy chairs or floor pillows for when she or others waited for a team member. This especially would apply to the premier off world team, as they always seemed to come back with some injury or another resulting with one of them on the brink of death and covered in blood. They just could not seem to play nice with the other inhabitants of the Pegasus galaxy.

So now she lounged on her comfy pillow, in the sunshine, on the balcony sipping a cup of coffee, and perusing Major Lorne's latest mission report. Carson had been getting on her case for spending so much time working in her office, so she set up camp out here to try and appease him. After all, she wasn't technically in her office anymore, granted she still wasn't in her quarters relaxing like he wanted, but she wasn't spending all of her time at a desk and could still work out here while allowing her close enough proximity to the control room.

She focused on reading the major's report that dealt with new intel about another faction in the Pegasus Galaxy set on hating them. She finished reading when the alarms went off in the gate room indicating an unscheduled activation. Only two teams were scheduled today; SGA-4 left six hours ago and was not due to check in for three more hours, while SGA-1 approached their scheduled check-in. Given their track record, she'd stake money that it was probably them, as they always seemed to get in trouble. Perhaps she should get a move on for her infirmary waiting room plans, as likely that she would need them soon.

Chuck confirmed her suspicions as she got up and walked to stand behind him. He said to her, "Receiving Colonel Sheppard's IDC." She was about to reply when the radio crackled to life and Telya's voice came through saying, "Be advised we are taking fire please lower the shield."

Trust Teyla to always be polite even in a crisis. Turning to Chuck, Dr. Weir said, "Do it." By now military personnel were taking up their positions around the gate.

He lowered the shield, and soon Teyla and Rodney exited the gate. Some very sharp looking spears hurling through the gate after them, but they both got out of the way quickly—Rodney especially disliking such objects. Elizabeth did not realized she held her breath, until she released it a few seconds later as Ronon and John exited the gate firing at the source of the oncoming spears. As soon as they exited Elizabeth signaled for Chuck to shut the gate down, and walked over to the stairs to find out what had happened.

By the time she had descended to meet them Sheppard waved off the military that gathered, leaving the group slightly more privacy to talk. Elizabeth looked all of them over, and they appeared to be fine with the exception of the Colonel. Trouble should have been his middle name, as some distinct bruises and a large and angry red line ran across his throat.

His customary smile did nothing to assuage her concern as she asked, "What happened? Colonel that looks rather painful," her eyes flicked to his neck, "Do we need to call a medical team?"

He shook his head no, causing her even more suspicions, however Teyla that answered. "He took the late watch and our camp was attacked. A hostile came up from behind and tried to strangle him, unsuccessfully of course."

"Yeah, but he kicked me in the process, waking me up," chimed in Rodney. They all shot him an evil glare. "What? I woke Conan and Xena up too. Nicer I might add, though I will probably have a bruise now."

Sheppard just rolled his eyes at that and mouthed sorry as Teyla continued. "We tried to ask the Colonel for more details, but I think he must have been injured because he has been unable to say a word. We quickly grabbed our gear and headed to the gate, unfortunately the other natives took to pursing us."

"Chucking spears at us I might add!" Rodney added.

Elizabeth tried to suppress a sigh, "Yes Rodney we noticed." She turned to John, "So you can't speak at all?" He shook his head no. "Well Rodney why don't you accompany the Colonel to the infirmary, because I'm sure Carson can look at your bruise too while you are there. We can debrief in an hour, and Colonel a written report will suffice." She smiled at him.

He gave her a disgusted look and mouthed 'real funny'.

However, Rodney's face sank and said, "Oh, funny laugh at the injured man." But, he regained his good mood at having to escort the silent Colonel to the infirmary, realizing the opportunity to terrorize the man. "Well I must say the silence is rather nice. Come on Mr. Talkative, you get to go see Carson, man of big pointy needles."

Sheppard shot him a venomous glare as he was led out of the gate room. Rodney would so pay for this, as he almost wished he kicked him harder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Twenty minutes later Elizabeth made her way to the infirmary to find out the status of the team. Teyla and Ronon left already to shower and eat, but she looked around to see the other half of SGA-1.

As she entered the infirmary, the sound of Rodney complaining about his post mission exam greeted her.

"Stop complaining, 'ya big baby," Carson told him. "Ye are just fine and doe need tae make such a big deal out o' it."

Rodney sat there looking sullen and cranky. "Am I done yet?" He spat.

"Yes, nah get out o' my sight! I have real patients tae see."

"Yeah the silent one over there seems to be a big problem. Ha, now he can't complain about being stuck in the infirmary. Are you sure you want to fix this?"

Rodney looked over at Sheppard who sat on the bed across from him, giving him a look that said he best leave now or suffer a real injury.

Elizabeth said to Rodney, "You realize it's only his voice that is injured and he could probably still hurt you easily. I would leave if I were you." Sheppard nodded at this, cracking his knuckles, as Rodney took the hint and left rather quickly.

"Uhh yeah I'm off to find sustenance. Mm, blue jello all the way!"

Elizabeth turned to Carson who was writing some things down in John's rather file—his certainly was the largest—as John looked at her pointedly hoping for some escape help. She asked Carson, "So what's the damage?"

"Well the strangulation attempt did nae do much for 'im," Carson began earning a 'duh' look from John. "His larynx is severely swollen, which explains why he cannae speak. The good news is once the swelling goes down," He turned to look at him, "You shoul' be able tae banter with Rodney tae your 'eart's content again."

Elizabeth gave John an encouraging smile, "So what should he do in order to recover fastest? And is staying in the infirmary part of that recovery?" She asked. She knew a silent John Sheppard might be more of a problem then normal, as he could and probably would be able to slip away more quietly to escape this albatross.

Carson, probably thinking the same thing, said, "Yes, Colonel you do not need ta stay here overnigh', but ya do nee' to rest and drink a lot o' 'ot liquids, because that'll help soothe those muscles."

This caused John's face to light up like a kid at Christmas as he hopped off the table, and started to head out the door. Elizabeth turned to Carson saying, "He is so pathetic isn't he?"

"Aye luv, that he is." At this they both shared a smile before Elizabeth said good bye to Carson and headed back to her office.

"I'll make sure he doesn't turn up at the gym later. Maybe I can get Radek to lock him out or something." Elizabeth called on her way out.

"Good thinking lass, I might have a word about that ta Ronon as well."

Elizabeth silently laughed as she headed down the halls, musing over how her 2IC could be such a handful some days. She definitely did not envy Carson for having to put up with him; he was a pretty bad patient most times.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour and a half later Elizabeth's computer beeped signaling the time for her debriefing with Colonel Sheppard's team. They all sat in the conference room except for Rodney, but Radek stood next to John hooking up a computer.

"Oh Doctor Weir, Colonel Sheppard stopped by my office with a rather good idea allowing him to better take part in the debriefing." John nodded. "So I hooked up his laptop to one of the wall monitors so he can type his comments to the conversation. It is a good plan no?"

Elizabeth replied looking pleased, "It is a great plan. Thanks for helping get it ready, and nice problem solving John."

He typed "_Thanks, I try."_

Radek excused himself and left as Rodney hurried in. "Ok I'm here, we can start now."

Tying could be heard and everyone looked up, "_Geeze Rodney have you heard of a thing called time? It's measured by a watch and smart people usually have one. I guess you aren't that smart now are you? Or you would have been on time!"_

Rodney moaned, "Oh great the mute thinks he's so smart 'cause now he can type instead of talk. At least I can talk, so ha!"

A smiley with its tongue stuck out appeared on the screen.

Elizabeth decided that even with this altered form of communication they could still carry on annoying banter. "Ok, let's get this under way."

The debriefing went according to their usual format with Sheppard making his comments on the screen. He could type surprisingly fast, for never being caught carrying around a computer before. When it was Rodney's turn to speak John made funny pictures dance around the screen behind Rodney's seat (Since he was the last one there the only open seat was with his back to the screen) Every one tried to keep from laughing, but even Elizabeth had a hard time keeping a straight face when "I'm stupid" and "Ahhh the lemons are going to get me" and "You arrrr loooking at a genuis right her" and "Bow down to my awesome intelligence" (This one had a flashing red arrow pointing at Rodney) appeared behind the scientist's head.

However when John made a crown with the message "Hail the King of the Geeks" show up—Ronon cracked up, Teyla quickly looked away, and Elizabeth turned a laugh into a cough—Rodney turned around and saw the blank screen. He shot John a look of questioning, but of course John just gave him an innocent look and _please continue_ appeared. Rodney turned back to face everyone and began again when John made the crown pop up, only the message flashed. This time, everyone started laughing and Rodney caught what John's message before he could erase it.

"Oh real mature Colonel. That's it. I am so done"

Elizabeth looked sheepish and said, "Sorry Rodney, really we were paying attention."

"I should have guessed something was up when you all looked so into what I was saying, but no, smarty-quiet-pants was being clever." Rodney answered angrily.

"Hey I enjoyed it a lot. Best debriefing we have had in a while." Ronon quipped leaning back in his chair.

"It was amusing," Teyla admitted.

Elizabeth decided they were pretty much finished, "Well that covers most of it I think, so the rest can go into a report. Which you should have plenty of time to do since it will be a little while before your next mission."

With that everyone started to file out. By now it was lunch time and SGA-1 usually ate lunch together after mission, as per their tradition.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day passed pretty normally for everyone: one minor explosion in the science lab, Sheppard tried get in the gym and the city refused to let him in—thanks to the work of a certain Czech scientist, and Rodney kicked half of his staff out of the labs due to their 'incompetence.'

Dinner consisted of the usual, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, so Elizabeth decided that she really wanted to be alone for a while and took her meal to go, grabbed her laptop (she might as well read reports while she ate) and headed out to the East pier for some quiet.

Quiet was sort of what she got, because when she arrived at the pier, she found that it was already occupied. John was camping out there with a blanket spread out, a thermos of some kind of hot liquid, and a laptop of all things. He looked up as Elizabeth walked in and typed, _Hey- didn't feel like eating with everyone else either?_ She smiled, sat down next to him, and turned on her laptop and opened the instant message program.

EW: Yep

JS: Oh, yeah well the whole not talking thing kinda put a damper on dinner conversation.

EW: What dinner conversation? Doesn't Rodney talk the whole time anyway?

JS: Point taken.

EW: Heard about your gym fiasco.

JS: Was that you or Carson? Wait never mind, I don't want to know.

EW: Guilty. I sort of thought of it as I was leaving the infirmary. Ooops. Sorry.

JS: If I were Rodney, you would have just bought yourself a ticket for a weeks worth of cold showers.

EW: But you aren't so now what are you going to do?

JS: Wouldn't you like to know?

He shot her a smug grin, set his laptop down, and leaned over and kissed her.

Even though he couldn't talk, his kissing was not diminished.

Their fate was sealed the moment Elizabeth Weir walked out onto that balcony. Ever since he returned from the encounter with Lucius two months ago and kissed her on the control room balcony, they maintained a low profile with their relationship towards each other. He brought her coffee and breakfast, and escorted her to her room if she tried to work past midnight. In turn, she worried more than ever when he was off world. Then in the evening they would meet at different places to talk, and kiss. Nothing past kissing yet: They both agreed to take it slow and did not want to raise suspicion because neither were sure of the best way to proceed—they also did not want to give the rumor mill more ammo. John managed to keep Rodney quiet in regards to his intrusion, but he was suspicious that some how it might have leaked out because nobody ever bothered them when they met in the evening or disappeared for an hour or two, or how ate together. For now, they ignored it, both happy with their progression.

--TBC--


	5. Chapter 4: The Real Beginning

Chapter Four: The Real Beginning

Chapter Four: The Real Beginning

_Disclaimer—Don't own, but man I wish I did!! That would be SO cool._

Atlantis:

Dr. Weir sat in her office catching up on paperwork, after all, the last week or so caused it to really pile due to all the craziness. She paused from the current report about power consumption to rub her temples, because the lack of sleep and stress induced from worry was getting to her. A sharp _thunk _jarred her from her musings……two seconds later, another, _thunk_. The rhythmic sound of the plastic groaning as it hit the floor, while supporting quite a bit of weight, caused her to looked up and identify the source of her disturbance. Colonel Sheppard made his way across the control room on a pair of crutches. _Thunk._ The injury, courtesy of his team's most recent escapade, resulted in a great deal of worry on her part, and pain on his. He looked pretty comical holding a file folder in his teeth as he maneuvered the crutches with practiced skill. _Yes, that's what all those injuries due to you—One gets a lot of experience_ she thought. He hobbled all the way to her office before sinking into the chair in front of her desk, gently tossing the file down right in the middle of her already cluttered work space.

"So what are you doing out of the infirmary so soon? And is that a report I see, because I must say this has to be a record. John Sheppard, notoriously bad for getting reports completed on time, has one in early? You're not even on light duty!" Elizabeth said with a small smile.

He gave her an innocent look and replied, "Ha, ha, very funny. I complete reports on schedule, _my_ schedule. If it happens to be slower than yours that's not my problem. Honestly, I was bored stuck in bed so I decided to get it over with, so here is a little present."

"Well, thanks but now it throws a wrench in my work order. See I planned on not getting it for two, three days I mean weeks. By then I'd have gotten all caught up on what I missed, but now I have to read it." She retorted with a playful look on her face.

"Aww I feel special, so think you can talk Carson outta making me use these and get me back on light duty?" Now his face truly wore on the 'pouty' face.

Elizabeth snorted, "Yeah right. You only came 'to' what yesterday morning? Fat chance! Be glad you are out of the infirmary, and even gladder you aren't in a wheel chair."

"True, did you have anything to do with letting me out sooner than normal, because Carson wasn't thrilled when he agreed to let me leave?" He asked sweetly.

Elizabeth averted her eyes, looking at the ceiling, and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

John got up and said, "I thought as much. Well happy reading. I know of a balcony that has my name on it." He gave her a significant look, and she heard the _thunk……. thunk_ as he left her office and moved across the gate room. Yeah, basically he gave her an invitation to join him out there when she was done, and a 'hey I'm back and here to remind you not to work too late' comment as well. But first however, she needed to read his report, because the whole mission had been a fiasco and they had barely survived, again!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Atlantis- about a week and ½ before

The senior staff filed out of the conference room after a long meeting to discuss the information brought back by Major Lorne's team. Another encounter with a new force that seemed to be on par with the Genii (at least in sneakiness) marked the eighth time in last two and a half months the off world teams encountered them. These run-ins with an organization of people that did not seem to like them, struck them as peculiar. To cap it all off, the few who knew anything at all seemed reluctant to talk out of fear.

Jokingly, Sheppard compared them to the Pegasus galaxy's version of the mob, as they worked in stealth and not so savory business deals—according to their intel. During their encounters, teams ran into several spies and discovered two outposts. However, the information gained from the outposts disturbed them greatly as they found records of not only business deals, but profiles of several human groups—their profile being the largest. It appeared that it wasn't just the Genii who desperately looked to gain information about the expedition, because photos of expedition members—with messages asking for information with the promise of compensation—coated the walls.

Even though the organization seemed like a well oiled machine, McKay pointed out that their technological level must be below theirs, as no outright attacked occurred as of yet. Teyla also pointed out that their number of fighters and weapons might also be diminished, since the outpost lacked proper defendants—its lone occupant poisoned himself to avoid capture.

This situation remained ongoing as the teams continued to gate off world—they were not going to let an unknown enemy force them into hiding, especially if they had yet to show hostility openly. However, there one thing lurked at the back of Dr. Weir's mind, and she kept the voice silent for the time being. Out of all the profiled members of the expedition recovered from the outpost, the one by far with the biggest file was John. At the meeting, he laughed it off, attributing it to his popularity, but that did little to calm her nerves.

Ever since they admitted to their feelings for each other, their loved blossomed. However, now more than ever was she acutely aware of the dangers John faced when off world and she worried more and more about him. Granted, she always worried, but this threat added to the ever growing list of potential dangers he might face.

Today, Atlantis's premier off world team waited in the Gateroom, ready to head out on a 'making friends' mission. They received this particular address from one of their Athosian contacts, who said that this planet consisted of a monk like community devoted to farming and simple living. It didn't sound dangerous, but then again this team's missions rarely went as planned.

Well, three of the four stood idly by, waiting for the fourth. Rodney, late again, rushed in a few minutes later—seriously, the man needed a personal assistant or a watch to help him with time management.

"'Bout time McKay." Drawled Sheppard as the astrophysicist hurried into the gate room.

McKay, annoyed, waved him off saying. "Yes, yes I know. Some people have other important things to do than go talk to another community of back-water farmers who lack offworld experience."

"Well if some people wouldn't eat so much, we wouldn't have to go looking for food so often." Ronon added smirking.

The look of disgust on Rodney's face increased, "Well excuse me but I'm not the one who eats two trays of food at every meal like some people."

Ronon shot him a look that spoke volumes, causing McKay to back down for the moment.

"Ok gang, are we ready to head out yet?" Sheppard commented—subtly hinting that is was time to go. Because the sooner they left, the sooner they could come back.

"Yes, Colonel I believe we are," replied Teyla readying herself to leave—trust her to help get things back on track, although sadly she played the role of mediator too often. John nodded to Elizabeth, who observed the whole thing from the control room balcony, and she ordered Chuck to dial the gate before wishing them luck. John shot her a cocky grin and waved, before following his team through the gate.

--TBC--


	6. Chapter 5: Make New Friends

Chapter Five: Make New Friends

Chapter Five: Make New Friends

_Disclaimer—Don't own, but man I wish I did!! That would be SO cool._

The team exited the gate and stopped to observe the planet around them. The sun shone brightly, giving off warmth to every corner indicating a warm climate. Sheppard pulled out his sunglasses and put them on as McKay proceeded to complain about how he left his sunscreen in his lab on accident—earning a collective sigh from the rest of the team.

The gate, set in the middle of a circular stone patio, had four pathways branching out from it. To the west and east all they could see were rows and rows of crops. To the south there looked to be a forest of some kind. And to the north they could make out a structure of some kind. Each pathway was enshrouded with trees, providing shade from the sweltering heat—giving off the air of a well manicured and thoughtful society. In the distance, some figures working stood out, but did not make to approach them.

"Not much into the whole welcoming committee are they?" Sheppard noted, nodding in their direction.

"We should probably head towards the structure, as that might be the monastery that was mentioned by my contact. It is possible that people we could speak with reside there," replied Teyla in her matter of fact manner.

"Huh, I am picking up some interesting power readings from the North and South." Rodney interjected.

"Well, the structure is north so why do we not try there first. Perhaps we can find someone who can explain things better," said Teyla.

John nodded and said, "Well, let's get this over with then shall we?" leading the way up the northern path, directly shooting out from the gate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As they walked Rodney seemed to grow more and more rattled. Finally he couldn't take it anymore. "Uhh, guys? Have you noticed what they seem to be growing a lot of here?" He asked hesitantly.

Ronon replied, "Melons and fruit. So what?"

An audible 'oh' escaped from Sheppard before he said, "Fruit that looks suspiciously like," evil grin, "Lemons?" He reached up and picked one off the trees lining the path before lobbing it in McKay's general direction. McKay freaked out and jumped out of the way, moving faster than the team witnessed in some time.

"Don't..do…that!" whined McKay, getting more upset by the moment.

"Relax Rodney, they look like they have other stuff out there. Nobody is going to make you eat them or anything. People can't live off of lemons, so they probably have other stuff to trade." Sheppard said as they reached the foot of the stairs to a really old looking building that seemed slightly familiar in design. "Looks like we're here anyway, so too late to turn back."

"You, you," spluttered Rodney, "Great now I'm stuck here. Oww!"

Teyla gently nudged him in the ribs, and nodded toward a figure in all white that approached them from the top of the stairs. Well-built and strong looking, they observed his relatively young age—perhaps late twenties. Brilliant blond hair, accented by a circlet of gold, shone in the bright sun, and a face full of laughter greeted them.

"Ah, welcome, welcome to our monastery," the man said beaming, "I am Lord Damian, head of the high council of monks."

John nodded to him and started the introductions. "Yeah, hi. This is Dr. Rodney McKay," Rodney waved and gave an uneasy smile. "Teyla Emmagan," She nodded to him. "Ronon Dex," Ronon just looked at him as if he were sizing him up. "And I'm Colonel John Sheppard."

The bright green eyes of Lord Damian flickered with emotion for a split second with the conclusion of the introductions but quickly regained their sparkle. "Well, what can I do for you?"

Teyla replied, "I have heard from one of my Athosian contacts that the monks of this monastery are master farmers, yet they seek potential trading partners for things that they cannot grow themselves. We come in reply to this as we are seeking food, but have much to offer in return in regards to farming techniques and methods."

"Well, why don't we head inside and you all can talk to the rest of the council, and perhaps we can come to an agreement of some sort. I know that good trading partners are always beneficial," said Damian as he ushered them through the tall doors of the complex.

The monastery, unique and visually appealing, struck them as familiar because the whole advancement of the building was on par with Atlantis. As Damian led them through the main entrance and corridors, they observed distinct similarities in architecture and the features of the complex. The doors were the same; rooms that they could see into were also set up similar to some of the labs of their own, and even the control crystals to activate the doors looked oddly familiar.

Rodney, unable to contain his inquisitive thoughts, asked first, "Did, the ancients build this? Because it seems to be very much of their style."

Damian replied, "If by ancients, you mean the ancestors, then yes, it was build by them. Our brotherhood found this place several thousand years ago after fleeing a wraith culling. They claimed it as their home, living here ever since. It is a unique and special place. Our brothers have made many discoveries here that have furthered our knowledge, and we believe that it was perhaps a small research facility built for some unknown purpose, but it is self-sufficient so we live quite comfortably. However maintaining adequate power remains a constant in recent years, and we have shut down many of the functions. Someday, we hope to get it running to its full capacity. How is it that you recognized the style?"

The team shifted uncomfortably, so Sheppard replied vaguely, "Well, we uh come from a place also built by the ancients."

Rodney burst in, "Plus when we got here I picked up beaucoup power readings coming from the north and south, meaning something of significance lay here."

Damian raised an eyebrow, "Did you now? Well the old ruins lie in the forest to the south, and us here. But we only have the simple things running in this place. My people lead a simple life for the most part, farming and such, however we do look into the ways of the ancestors."

While walking, John attempted to connect with the complex—assuming those with strong genes could aptly tap into the city, like with Atlantis. While Rodney tended to joke about John being the city's favorite, some truth lay with the matter—Atlantis did like him for some reason. She tended to hum in his head wherever he went, not to mention obeying every little whim of his in regards to system controls.

Yet this place did not take to him so readily. He sensed that there someone else already occupied the role of the "favorite" of the complex, and took immense control because the complex emanated surprise at his mental prodding, immediately turning defensive. John realized that someone here contained strong ATA genes that perhaps rivaled his own, because they deliberately kept the city in check.

This worried John, as he considered the potential power of someone who so actively controlled the city. He hoped that he was just paranoid about this whole thing, because if this didn't go so well, the complex would probably align itself with its current favorite—proving a tough obstacle to overcome. For now he simply tried to bide his time and remain alert without ruining the chance to align them with these monks—after all another strong gene could prove useful.

Damian led them to a chamber that vaguely resembled their own conference room on Atlantis. The doors automatically opened at their approach, resulting in Rodney shooting an accusatory look in John's direction. He did not respond as Damian showed them in saying, "I hope you will be comfortable waiting in here. The council must be assembled to meet with you; unfortunately some of its members are out doing their daily duties so please excuse me if it takes a moment or two."

After the high monk left, the team began to survey the room. While structurally the room was comparable to Atlantis, the decorating left much to be desired. Several plush couches and chairs formed a semi-circle in the center of the room, serving as a meeting area. Yet, shelves lined every inch of wall space, and scrolls overflowed from the bookcases. The room resembled a library more than a conference room.

Simply to confirm that they were indeed alone, Sheppard checked his LSD to confirm, before asking McKay, "So, Rodney, any mention of other places like this in the database that you ever came across but forgot to mention?"

"No, believe me I would have told you if I knew," he retorted snarkily.

"This place is uncannily like Atlantis in design, but the layout is of course much different and it is much smaller as well," commented Teyla sitting down on one of the plush floor pillows. Rodney thought it vaguely resembled a bean bag.

"I wonder what they are using to power it though. That lord, oh, what's his face, said that they had to shut down a lot of systems. But how does he know that?" wondered Rodney out loud, asking the question on everyone's mind.

"Yeah, and what did he mean when he said they were interesting in the work of the ancients?" asked Ronon completing a sweep of the room for any threats, "I thought they Teyla's contact said they were simple farmers."

"Those are damn good questions. These monks must be more than just simple farmers if they have that much interest and control over this place," started John, "However, there is one thing really bugging me. I tried to connect with the place, since it was so similar to Atlantis, and the complex didn't really like me."

Rodney snorted, "Oh, so you can't be every ancient city's favorite. Ha you were rejected by a city. That's pretty pathetic Kirk."

John rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyway my point is, is that someone else must be connected pretty closely with the city for it to reject me so fast. And to do that, they would have to have a pretty darn strong ATA gene wouldn't you say?"

"Oh, my," responded Rodney considering the idea, "You actually may have a point there Sheppard."

Teyla spoke up to clarify, "So there is someone here who has a gene almost or as strong as John?"

"Seems like it," said Rodney, nodding, "Wait, so it wasn't you who opened the doors to this room. I mean that Lord thingy didn't touch anything, so he must have the gene too. I wonder how many of these monks actually have it because I don't want a repeat of what happened on that planet with the Lord Protector and who was she…….," snapped his fingers a couple of times, "Ah yes, Mara."

John glare shot daggers at Rodney.

"Let's just keep a low profile," added Ronon.

"Yeah, boys and girl, I agree that we play nice, but stay sharp incase they aren't what they seem," replied John seriously, "And, be ready to make a quick getaway. Just in case."

Teyla nodded saying, "Perhaps we have just found ourselves some powerful allies, and we are just a little paranoid due to what happened with our last encounter dealing with people who carried the gene."

"How about this?" asked Rodney looking up from his data pad, "I will try and tap into their system and run a diagnostic to see what's going on with this place. This way, we at least know something about what we are up against."

"Can you find out what kind of weapons they have? Like if they have a chair room or not, because that would be good to know," questioned John.

Rodney, already on it, waved his hand in dismissal, "Yeah, yeah give me ten minutes and I'll give you 'old ancient research facility' for dummies 2.0."

With that they fell silent to let Rodney work, and to ponder what they had just gotten themselves into. Perhaps paranoia was simply playing tricks on them, or perhaps the strange feeling in the back of their minds was accurate.

o0o

_Subterranean Complex:_

Kolya had been talking with a few of his remaining men who had been spying off world when he got an interesting message from his friend.

'_Well, I have some interesting visitors who showed up on my doorstep this afternoon. You might be interested to peek at the surveillance photos. I think you may know them, one in particular. Whatever you do, do NOT leave your quarters and reveal yourself yet. We must stick to the plan. Patience is a virtue my friend and all will come in good time. Don't screw this up; you might not have another chance that is this good. I will be by to talk with you about this further later on in the day. LD._

He left his men where they were and went straight to the control room by the gate. This was where all of the surveillance was transmitted from the monastery. He pulled up the pictures from about an hour ago from the camera by the gate. A quartet had gated in, and in the midst of them was none other than the man whom Kolya would do anything to eliminate, Colonel John Sheppard. A smile lit up his face, ah sweet revenge, there would be no escape this time; he would make sure of it.

--TBC--


	7. Chapter 6: It's a small world after all

Chapter Six: It's a small world after all

Chapter Six: It's a small world after all

_Disclaimer—Don't own, but man I wish I did!! That would be SO cool._

"Well, they don't seem to have too much in the way of weapons," Rodney started, alerting them to the fact he apparently finished snooping around their systems. "They don't have a chair room, drones, jumper bay, jumpers, or are powered from a ZedPM. Basically, it's a small outpost that was meant for maybe one or two science teams to work from and study agriculture on the planet."

They all silently agreed the news was good, because if the tables turned on them, far less could hinder an escape attempt. Plus, if a zpm did not outfit the place with power, then they wouldn't have to worry about competition in the zpm hunt. However, this brought about an interesting question, dealing with the power source. Teyla inquired first asking, "So how is this place powered then if not by a ZPM?"

McKay glanced down at his laptop, "It appears that they run off of geothermal energy from the planet's core."

"Great, another one," commented Sheppard dryly. They all knew how well that worked for the last civilization subscribing to the same power methods. "They aren't doing anything stupid that would result in them getting us almost blown up again? 'Cause a repeat really isn't high on my 'to do' list."

"No, they appear to be running on the bare minimum…." McKay began but stopped when his laptop beeped. "People are approaching,"

Teyla responded, "It is probably their council."

"About time they showed up," remarked Ronon folding his arms to get more comfortable, as comfortable as he could get with staying on edge and looking intimidating.

The four of them took seats together, and tried to look unconcerned. Rodney quickly shoved his data pad in his bag, just before the doors of the familiar but not familiar tiny Atlantis wannabe conference room opened to permit entry of the council. It consisted of six wise looking figures and Lord Damian, the head monk who had met them initially.

After pleasantries were exchanged, the oldest member of the council, Matthias, started off with inquiring about whom they were, what they did, where they were from, and what they were interested in.

"Well, we are from another ancient outpost similar to this one, only on the larger scale," replied Teyla.

One of the youngest looking monks, Mica, piped up, "Really? Are you part of the expedition from Atlantis? We have heard rumors from friends on other worlds about a new group of people living there."

Rodney immediately looked up and shot John a look of 'oh no.' Ronon shifted slightly, his hand straying closer to his weapon. Teyla also tensed a little.

The other monks gave him a dark look, and Damian colored slightly and said, "We should not be prying into their business like that Mica. If they choose to reveal the name of their home, that is up to them. Please excuse him," Damian said to the four, "Mica is young and slightly inexperienced in his knowledge of off world encounters and tactful questioning."

By unspoken consent John replied, "Hey, don't worry about it. To answer your question…yes, we are from Atlantis. However in return would you mind telling me who you heard that from?" He gave Mica a small encouraging smile.

Mica swallowed and said, "I am very active in farming and have a number of Athosian friends who shared their amazing story of how you took them in."

"Oh, that's nice," Rodney snarked, rolled his eyes, and shot John a look of 'this is so _your_ fault.'

Gedree, another of the council spoke up and asked, "So then what it is you are looking for; if the ancestral city is your home what can we offer?"

John sort of laughed and said, "Yeah that's the kicker, to put it simply—food.

"Oh, well that I think is something we can help you with," replied Damian. "Our brothers devote most of themselves to the cultivation and care of plant life. We always tend to overproduce, however the one thing that we could use your help with is knowledge. My brothers and I are very interested in our home and would love to learn more about it. As of right now we do not know much about how it works, but we do know that it holds great potential. Many of our scientists are working to better understand it, but help would be appreciated."

"Well, I would be able to do that easily, we could probably reroute some of your power to let more systems become operational, and…" McKay began swinging into full geek mode.

"So that pretty much settles it then?" Sheppard said rather bluntly.

Damian nodded and replied, "Yes, why don't you and your team stay here for a couple of days. Dr. McKay can meet with some of our scientists to help them out, and the rest of you may do as you wish. I am sure other areas of our home might interest you. We can begin the arrangements to have the first batch of food sent in a few days time."

"That would be great. If it's alright we do need to check in with our people to let them know the good news." Sheppard remarked tactfully, trying to remain as diplomatic as possible. Most times, they did not even reach this stage of negotiations, so his practice lacked a bit.

"Of course," Damian replied with a small hint of a smile, "Why don't we show you where you may stay. Our evening meal will be served in about two hours. You will not be expected until then."

The team nodded, and the meeting doors opened to allow them to file out. Mica turned to them and volunteered to show them to rooms where they could stay. The rest of the council left to go about their daily tasks, and Damian seemed to disappear all together.

Rodney started to follow and asked, "You do have food other than lemons right?" Nobody was really paying any attention to him and he had to jog to catch up to the group.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After checking out the digs Mica led them to, the team met in the joint common room to plan a course of action. Rodney, wanting to delve into the cities operating systems so more, expressed great displeasure with returning to check in. So, Teyla offered to stay with him, saying that if they needed them she would contact them over their radios. Twenty minutes later Sheppard and Ronon made their way back to the gate, and dialed Atlantis to check in.

"So they offered us plenty of food, just to pick Rodney's brain on the simpler aspects of the running of their city?" Elizabeth asked over the radio in disbelief.

"Hey, at least we aren't acting as arms dealers?" John replied with a hint of sarcasm alluding to the failed Genii negotiations.

"But really, they aren't asking for much compared to their proposed offering of food. Make sure that you offer medical assistance or something when you discuss this further. I don't want to feel like we are taking too much from them," she continued.

"Yeah, well they are pretty simple in their lifestyle. I think they like the way they live, and just want to make friends. I think all we have to look forward to for the next couple of days is looking at their crops and being good little boys and girls. Seriously, I feel like needing to be on my best behavior around them, because some of the older ones look like a couple of principles I once had." He shuddered, "I wouldn't wanna cross them."

"Yeah, well stay outta trouble as best as you can. They seem to be good allies, so don't screw it up," Elizabeth said playfully, trying to imagine John on his 'best behavior. Most times he was incorrigible, but he had his moments of maturity, "And stay safe I know I want you coming home in one piece preferably." She added quietly.

"Yes, mum," John said sweetly feigning innocence. Both of them knew that inevitably trouble was pretty much John's middle name, but both hoped for the best.

Elizabeth snorted before ending the call, "Well, then I guess I, we will see you in a couple of days, and with food for once. Weir out."

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The next few days passed uneventfully, for the monks lived in a nice routine manner. John, Ronon, and Teyla helped some of the monks package up the first food supply to be sent to Atlantis, after receiving a complete tour of the small complex. Rodney could really only be seen at meal times, which did serve foods other than those containing citrus.

He found three kindred spirits in three of the monastery's top scientists—Jorka, Sual, Than—and found himself easily explaining how their city worked. He already showed them how to reroute their power to give them short and long range scanners to pick up approaching wraith, and now they found the beginnings of a semi-operational shield—of course McKay whole heartedly jumped on the problem once notified of it.

Lord Damian also paid them increasing amounts of attention, doing small things like meeting them for meals and showing them around his home. He gave them a guided tour of the outpost and surrounding fields, while answering all of their questions. He told them of their small population, contained exclusively in the monastery. Well, several homes lay scattered around the surface for those seeking seclusion, but they remained fairly unoccupied presently.

As the three got to know him better, the more they liked Damian. John especially found himself drawn to the man, because of the similarities. Damian's odd sense of humor—refreshing for a monk—shown through in his affinity to play jokes on his brethren, was remarkably similar to John's. Twice he and Sheppard snuck up on McKay and the monks to terrorize them. Later, Damian introduced him the main sport of the monks that paralleled football to such a degree, that John couldn't resist sharing a bit about the game. At the mention of football, Teyla and Ronon went of to spar in an attempt to avoid boredom, leaving them to a very heated discussion regarding tactics.

By the third morning, the interest Rodney held began to wear off, due to the repetitive nature of the systems. He also slowly grew tired of the monk's tedious questions, almost wishing for Zelenka's incompetence instead. The database here held a meager selection, pertaining strictly to farming techniques and climate data. He made a copy of it to take back with him, of course, but an anomaly picked up on the second day drew his attention. Occasionally during the day, power readings fluxed for a few minutes at a time, only to disappear. He noticed one of these occurring on the fourth morning of their visit, and realized why they seemed so familiar. He excitedly called all of his team mates into the little common room to inform them, however, only Ronon and Teyla showed up to see Rodney's findings.

"Where's Sheppard?" McKay asked.

"He and Damian have gone on a run the last two mornings, so I would guess that is where he is currently," Teyla replied coolly looking over McKay's shoulder at the pad.

Rodney huffed, "What? That's odd. I guess those two really hit it off. Anyway, I picked up strange energy fluxes the last couple of days, and began to track them. They last not more than a minute or two, but the more I investigated, the clearer the answer became. I realized that they were familiar because they were like the fluxes from gate activations."

"Does this mean that there is another gate on the planet?" Teyla asked looking doubtful.

"I'm not sure, but that's what it seems like. I do know that these readings seem to be originating from the so called ruins on this planet. And I know that before we left to come here I looked up the planet in the database. It only mentioned one gate, which makes sense because it is such a small planet." Rodney replied thoughtfully.

"Which means what McKay?" Ronon asked bluntly, getting frustrated with the astrophysicist talking in circles.

Rodney looked a little upset, "Which means that we need to get Sheppard back here and go check out those ruins. Maybe the person who we suspected knew more about the city, you know the one with the strong gene, might be doing something on the side that could… I don't know…be bad?"

"Yes, we should try and radio him," began Teyla in a calming voice, quite the opposite of Rodney who was beginning to get more abrasive as his anxiety grew.

"Colonel Sheppard come in." Teyla began.

"Yeah," panted John over the radio. He sounded like he was in the middle of a run.

"Rodney found something peculiar that.." she was cut off however.

"Hold on a sec." said John sharply before falling silent.

A muffled whumph, and silence was audible over the com, before Teyla said, "Colonel Sheppard, do you read?"

Silence.

"John?"

Still nothing, as Rodney began to furiously type away at his pad, trying to ignore the static emanating from the radio. The pain in the pit of his stomach grew as the silence lasted longer and longer from when they last heard their friend.

"Uh oh. I picked up three life signs by the ruins, but they just disappeared all of a sudden," Rodney said in a small voice—quite the opposite of his usual grating tones. _This was not good, _he thought, _not good. Geese John, where were you and what have you gotten yourself into now? _Elizabeth would so kill him if they came back without her boyfriend. There was no doubt about it, they had to get him back or else. This was really bad!

--TBC--


	8. Chapter 7: Revelations

Prologue:

Chapter 7—Revelations

_Disclaimer—Don't own, but man I wish I did!! That would be SO cool._

_Previously,_

The last two days John and Damian met at sunrise to run together. Ever since their football conversation, they become much closer than what John expected they would, but Damian seemed an okay guy. He understood the burden of leadership fairly well, being the head monk, and had a passion for physical activity. So he helped to make their time here a little less 'boring', for lack of a better word. Many times on less advanced planets, Rodney ended up having all the fun playing with ancient toys, while the team attempted to stave off death by boredom.

Damian, on the other hand, found himself slightly torn. He knew he executed the plan off to a tee, but part of him regretted the deception. Under different circumstances he would have loved to remain true allies to these people, but his former alliances drove his actions. His loyalty must not waver, nor his mask, as this was probably one of the most dangerous games he played thus far.

By spending time with Sheppard, he learned quite a bit about him—including the man's strength and protective streak towards his people. On the whole, he was a very honorable man and Kolya had not been wrong about Sheppard being a formidable opponent. Damian read the report from Kolya about the failed take over attempt on Atlantis, and initially found it hard to believe Sheppard's capabilities due to the easy going appearance. But learning from Kolya's mistakes, he learned that behind this nature, a fierce spirit lie. Yes, he would have to tread carefully, especially when Sheppard's team got wind because Dr. McKay was smart, however he hoped that the plan he had set in motion would be enough to get the job done.

Their run led them to the old ruins that they passed by the previous day. To Sheppard, they seemed a lot like the other ruins found on previous planets. After a while, they all started to look a like. He made a mental note to make sure McKay got out here before they left because he would probably be fascinated by them.

All of a sudden his radio crackled to life.

"Colonel Sheppard, come in." He heard Teyla's voice over the com.

"Yeah," he replied slowing to a stop. Damian turned back to look at him and started walking back to his position.

"Rodney has found something peculiar that…" He cut her off when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye triggering his spidey senses.

"Hold on a sec," he said as he turned to get a better look, because something was _not right._

As he turned he felt something painfully come into contact with the back of his head, and the blackness enveloped him. He felt himself lose consciousness as he slumped to the ground.

Damian walked over and picked up the radio from the still form on the ground as it crackled to life again. "Colonel Sheppard, do you read?"

He tossed it to the man who had performed the backstabbing deed.

"John?"

Kolya caught the radio, dropped it on the ground, and proceeded to smash it into little bits under his boot.

He looked down at the crumpled figure at his feet and smiled. "That felt so good." He said looking back up at Damian.

"Yes, yes, come on, phase two remember. We need to get outta here before his team comes to investigate. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to see a pissed Ronon," Damian replied.

With that they both picked up Sheppard and headed down into the ruins through a concealed entrance.

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The soft, steady dripping of water brought John slowly to the land of the living. The subtle drip, drip, drip only served to magnify the massive pain in his head, because the little men in his skull apparently worked overtime pounding away with their hammers. Cracking open an eye to stare up at the dark and dirty ceiling, he quickly identified it as a cell of some type—although the hard ground was pretty much a dead give away. Of course this could only happen to him, he though bitterly to himself. Sure, go running with an "ally" only to wind up getting knocked out and taken prisoner—sounded like a perfect recipe for success.

After gradually working to a sitting position, he got up and walked over to peer out the cell bars into the hall. Unfortunately the guards must have been on break, leaving little clues as to the identity of his host. The way he saw it, several possibilities existed. First, both he and Damien had been ambushed and captured together. Scenario two, only he'd been taken—after all he did manage to make a few enemies during his time in Pegasus. However, on the other hand he assumed the honesty of Damien, but John needed to consider the possibility of a set up. Only his luck would award him another false ally that decided to sell his sorry butt to one of his numerous enemies.

Slowly lowering himself into a sitting position, he rubbed the back of his neck in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain. So he had to play the waiting game, fine—it was only a matter of time until someone inevitably came to gloat.

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A knock at their door startled the team out of their worried state. Ronon immediately drew his weapon and took up a position by the door to intercept whoever came in. Rodney grabbed his pad and moved to stand behind the runner as Teyla also took up position to cover the door.

Seconds later Jorka entered looking flustered. He immediately put his hands up in the air at seeing the raised weapons of the Lanteans. "Please," he said distraught, "You must leave here, because you are in danger."

Teyla lowered her weapon and moved forward to talk to him, in contrast to Ronon, who kept his weapon trained on the monk as he moved to block the door. She asked in doubt, "What do you mean we are not safe?"

The monk, still looking fearful, replied, "Lord Damien has set up a trap of revenge. Your team is not safe, especially Colonel Sheppard. Lord Damien plans to hand him over to a sinister man."

"Wait a minute," asked Rodney skeptically, "Damien is evil? Don't monks have like this code of morals or something?"

"Well," began Jorka more calmly, "He was brought to us as a young boy, ostracized by his village. They thought him cursed, since he has the unique ability to manipulate technology of the ancestors. Because we spend much of our time studying such items, he fit in naturally and his strong power allowed him to climb through the ranks of the brothers to his current position as leader."

Rodney rolled his eyes and asked bitingly, "Great, he is the gene boy Sheppard noticed. Wait! So how, exactly, do you know so much?"

"Well, at the time of his arrival, the council entrusted me with the job of educating him, and I took on the role of his mentor. For many years, he looked to me for guidance, but eventually his ambition took over him," replied Jorka forlornly.

"What do you mean?" asked Teyla encouragingly, hoping that the monk would continue to share anything that could help their predicament.

"Traditionally, this monastery looked into relics of the ancestors and maintained this facility; however we soon exhausted our storehouses. Damien thirsted for more, because the technology fascinated him. So, several years ago he started a black market to obtain such items. He spearheads an organization dealing in secrecy and lies to get what he wants.

"Why are you telling us this?" asked Ronon pointedly doubting the man's sincerity.

"Because I do not agree with his motives," expressed Jorka earnestly, "This course of action conflicts with the core beliefs of the monastery and I fear he will bring ruin upon us."

"So, how can you help us find Sheppard?" grunted Ronon.

"He is missing?" queried Jorka, "Damien must have moved up his time frame. I only realized the plan this morning, and made my decision to help you."

"But you can help us find him right?" asked McKay impatiently.

Jorka nodded, "If it is not too late. Right now, Damien fools all of the brothers in this building into thinking they are meant to study the technology of the ancestors. They think that he simply trades knowledge for the goods. However, in another facility, disguised as a home for those seeking seclusion, lies his covert base of operations. None of the brothers here are allowed to visit it, and none wish to because they are all scientists at heart—thus he keeps his ruse in peace."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up to the part about the secret facility! I don't care what the dunderheads here think," said Rodney abrasively.

"Yes, there Damien has gone against our principles and built up a force of soldiers to do his bidding. They go out into the galaxy as spies to make shady deals, doing goodness knows what. I fear this is where they have taken the Colonel."

"Yes, but why? Why the interest in John?" queried Teyla.

"In the early days, Damien struck a deal with a group called the Genii, whom I believe you are familiar with as to their true nature?"

"Yeah," replied Rodney nervously shaking his head, "This is so not good."

"Well, after Ladon's coup, Damien kept close ties with Commander Kolya, who I believe you also know, right?"

They nodded in acquiescence, but realization dawned on Rodney, "Wait, so is this some kind of vendetta against Sheppard? He killed Kolya, so Damien's going to kill him?"

The monk shook his head in confusion, "What do you mean? Kolya is not dead, but very much alive."

Teyla narrowed her eyes, looking dangerous, "He is alive? Are you positive?"

He nodded solemnly, "I saw him not three days ago with my very eyes."

"He's here, on this planet?" grunted Ronon—absently switching his gun from 'stun' to 'kill.'

"Yes, Damien kept him in the ruins, and I believe this is where he has taken Colonel Sheppard."

"Can you take us there?" asked Ronon, taking up an intimidating stance.

"Yes," nodded the monk fearfully.

The fact that Kolya lived terrified the team, but that he breathed here and now—let alone on the same planet—made their blood boil. Yet, they could not help but silently wish that wherever John was, that he was safe for the time being. Hopefully time remained on their side so they could mount a rescue attempt to find their team leader before something terrible happened.

As they looked at each other, a common sense of resolve was mirrored on each of their faces. There was no doubt among them that they would do whatever it took to get their friend back safe, they quickly gathered their gear to follow Jorka to the ruins—hoping that the monk did not plan to play them false.

--TBC--


End file.
